Former President Rupiah Banda has disclosed that he intends to call former Attorney General Musa Mwenye as witness in a matter in which Dr Ludwig Sondashi has sued him for alleged defamation.

Mr Banda has said this is because Mr Mwenye executed a consent judgment, absolving the former head of State of personal responsibility, although he was now party to the plaintiff’s legal team.

This is a matter in which Mr Banda has challenged the law suit in which Dr Sondashi is claiming damages for alleged defamatory remarks the former head of State made at a press conference when he was President of Zambia.

He explained that at the time of executing the said consent judgment in 2012, he was no longer President of the Republic of Zambia therefore not personally liable as claimed by the plaintiff.

“It is my intension to call Mr Musa Mwenye, SC, as a witness in this matter as he was the one who acted on behalf of the Attorney General for the remarks made by myself as President of the Republic of Zambia in 2009 and the matter was amicably settled in 2012,” he said.

Mr Banda has argued that the legal suit against him by Dr Sondashi alleging defamatory remarks he made while he was head of State should not be directed at him as a person, but rather at the Presidency, as an institution.

He said as a matter of fact, the matter was duly handled by the office of the Attorney General as the legal secretary for the Government on behalf of the former head of State.

“That I am aware that in fact the plaintiff did sue the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) which carried my Press conference live and that a consent judgment was duly agreed upon and executed by the parties.

“That I am also informed that the Attorney General of the Republic of Zambia was joined to the proceedings as a third party for purposes of taking up liabilities against ZNBC as the remarks emanated from a press conference which I addressed as Head of State and therefore the Attorney General was the correct party to cite and not myself,” he said.